Red and yellow house dress or day/play dress. Reminds me of ketchup and mustard. Red snap closures and collar tie. If belted or tailored, this could definitely be worn out to run errands as a fun day or play dress! Measurements taken flat and doubled. Bust: 44" Waist: 46" Hips: 53" Length: 41" from shoulder to hem Brand: Norman for At Home, inc Faint discolorations and nearly imperceptible blue stain above heart.

The Marvelettes were an American singing girl group on the Tamla label. Motown's first successful female vocal group, the Marvelettes are most notable for recording the company's first US #1 pop hit, "Please Mr. Postman", and for setting the precedent for later Motown girl groups such as Martha and the Vandellas and The Supremes.

During their eight-year run on the Billboard charts, the group scored nineteen top forty American R&B singles and ten top forty American pop singles. Of these hits, three were top ten pop singles, nine were top ten R&B singles, and one was number one on both charts.

Not only was their music groundbreaking and trendsetting; their sartorial choices defined the archetypal, quintessential mid-century girl-group look.

I'm a sucker for a bright, opaque pair of tights! This look is among my favorites. And those green dresses! They landed on the perfect spot between Kelly and Lime.

The simple pleasures!

My favorite thing about the article above, from a 1961 issue of Jet Magazine, is that it reminds us all that The Marvelettes were just kids!

And so, the mini dress was born!

Some songs from The Marvelettes' catalogue to enjoy:

I absolutely love this song - and love the dresses they're wearing even more! The long sleeves and faux/mock bolero on a wiggle dress silhouette along with the over-sized bows and high hair make for a PERFECT look!

Here's the same look in color:

EDIT/UPDATE:A commenter pointed out something I noticed, but didn't mention: that The Marvelettes sometimes had 3 members and at other times had 4! This isn't at all uncommon in girl groups, now or back then; I loved Destiny's Child growing up and was devastated, confused, bewildered when their lineup changed AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN... (any child of the 90s will COMPLETELY understand! How were we supposed to keep up with the posters on our walls if we didn't even know who was still in the group??? It was like a high stakes game of musical chairs.)

Apparently, The Marvelettes had 7 members total during their run on the charts. What's a girl group without drama (and line-up continuity issues)???

There were so many disparate movements at work in the 1960s, all converging to define what we now know to be the culture of the era: The youth movement, the hippies, the Civil Rights movement, mod fashions, and of course the dominant culture of the decade fought to preserve the status quo.

Pepsi was obviously a progressive company at the time and knew to appeal to both the teen/youth and Black demographics.

The two ads below were jarring to find. The blocking is nearly IDENTICAL; the ads were probably shot on the same day with the white models and black models shooting one right after the other. That practice is not unheard of (clip in the preceding link from the 1970 movie The Phynx). It's why today there are McDonald's commercials for every target market today.

The two ads above both ran in 1965 - the African-American version in Ebony magazine and the other in more mainstreamed publications.

In either set of ads, it's easy to tell that Pepsi was playing to younger potential customers and selling a lifestyle along with their product. The buttoned-up conservatism of the 1950s was on the way out and the free-wheeling 1960s dictated the way corporations marketed to consumers.

Here are a few Pepsi Generation television commercials from the mid and late 1960s to take a gander at:

And this hilarious article from 1965 demonstrates the pejorative use of the term "Pepsi Generation" as a tongue-in-cheek way to describe restless and delinquent youths.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Good question. One to which I certainly don't have an answer. But that's neither here nor there. This post is about the eponymous 1998 film starring Lorenz Tate, Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox, and Lela Rochon.

This true story of the talented (and philandering) Frankie Lymon spans the 1950s and 1960s - making it a perfect fit for b.vikki vintage.

Contact

About b.vikki vintage:

This blog features vintage advertising campaigns and fashion editorials from Black/African-American publications, video clips and found photographs featuring people of color from the 1950s-1960s, as well as product descriptions and pictures of vintage pieces I have for sale at my etsy.com shop.

Among the items available for purchase will be dresses, skirts, cardigans, shoes, bags, jewelry, and occasionally hats from the 1950s-1960s or fashioned in the style of that era.

I've loved vintage fashion for some time (and traditional jazz and pop standards, old movies, Doris Day, et al), and did lots of research before deciding to open a vintage etsy shop and start this blog, because I wanted to do it right. Something I noticed during my research, something that helped me to cement my decision, was the lack of women of color in the online vintage community.

So, not only will I be selling vintage clothing, but the pictures I post here, of beautiful women of color from the 1950s and 1960s, will give some idea of what we truly wore then.

My great grandmother, Essie O'Neal, and her brother, Norris Reed, Sr in the late 1940s.